Having been awarded her master’s degree in Media and Communication with distinction, Zo is now launching her career using the skills she learned at university to further a cause she strongly believes in.

‘Each day I get to try and answer the question: how can we bring marketers into the 21st Century? I’m basically responsible for marketing some of the most effective digital marketing available today.’

Zo currently works at Traction Digital, a digital communications business that specializes in creating effective communication solutions for companies to engage with their customers. She thoroughly enjoys the challenge of improving the way organizations communicate to their audience.

‘There are constantly new things coming out to keep you on your toes!’

Zo’s goal is to play a leading role in improving effective online and digital communications for non-profit organisations, ‘so that as a society we want to be switched on to important issues of the day and make positive changes in our own lives and communities.’

While she was at UC, Zo started Two Spoons, a successful cookery blog http://twospoons.wordpress.com/ to share her ‘student food experiments’ and her interest in all things green.

Zo believes that it was not only the formal education she received at UC that helped her with her career – the other activities she was able to engage in have also been important.

‘The detailed and constructive feedback I received for my writing over the years has helped me write with greater confidence and ease, and communicate more clearly and effectively, whether internally at work or in our campaigns,’ she says.

‘However, the courses were about so much more than teaching a skill set,’ she says. ‘They examined the global media system, its politics and implications – prompting a lot of out-of-class learning and soul searching. The lecturers and tutors at UC helped me see media from a more systemic perspective, which now helps guide my decision making and the advice I give at work.

‘The Sustainability Department, clubs and connections with the community and alumni helped me develop personally as well as being wonderfully supportive of my research and academic journey. This is why I didn’t feel the desire to leave Canterbury for my master’s! UC also provided me with a master’s scholarship which meant I could dedicate more time to the things that mattered to my degree and career beyond the degree.’

She advises others starting their university studies that this broader education is the key to success.

‘A degree alone won’t really help to land that first junior role or give you enough experience to go out on your own. Take the initiative and use out-of-class and holiday time to be part of societies, projects and campaigns that will stand out on your CV and show that you can lead and manage as well as work well in a team to promote and engage. If you’re applying for a job, it’s generally these experiences that your potential employer will ask you more about.’